Hedan and the Hedanitti
Hedan, demons and the Hedanitti. Hedan is the brother of Aesan, and was since she started her search for a people to call her own, aways near her, but never acting. Even when Aesan asked her brother for help contacting the people he didn't comply and when Aesan faced grave danger when rescueing the first tribe from the influence of an Orc god, Hedan fled. Once she rescued the first tribe, he still dared to bargain with her for half of the people, and in her goodness Aesan gave the people a choice. None of them choose Hedan, because he had done nothing for them. Hedan then turned away in envy, and since then plotted to steal away the people of Aesan. Hedan is called the Lord of Jealousy or the Envious One by the Aesanite believers, and is often depicted as a peacock or a jackal in religious paintings. He delights in sending people false thoughts of imagined wrongs and slights. He also likes seducing people to acts of perversions and beastlyness. All out of spite to his sister. His goal is to convert the Aesanites to him, but true to his nature, has no idea what to do with the people once he has them. Hedan has subverted many of the evil races in Aesanityum to prey upon the people, Gnolls and Troglodytes mostly, but also evil giantkin and some evil dragons do his bidding with promises of great reward. Only a small group of humans and demi-humans are subverted to his will, called Hedanitti. These humans delight in sowing discord in the Aesanite villages, befouling holy sites of Aesan and are known to be the instigators of the first Iconoclast and the Shism of Aesanhirs, the one time there were two Archmandrites in Aesanityum. They get great powers in return of the worship of Hedan, but these powers are unreliable. Not only did he subvert creatures on the material plane, he also loosely allied himself with a few demon lords. This is not to say that these demon lords follow his agenda, but they are willing to help Hedan in his struggle with Aesan as long as they get better by it. Here is a list of known affliliated demon lords. Affiliated demon lords: Ardat the unavowed. Demon mistress of Secrets and Failing marriages. (Harpies.) Fraz-Urb'luu, Master of Deception. Demon lord of lies, subterfuge and illusion. (Dopplegangers, Mimics) Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. Mistress of prostitution and temptation. (Succubi) Socothbenoth the Persuader. Lord of perversion and sexual taboos.(Incubi) Dark Saints: Hedan has raised his own “champions”to sainthood, mocking his sister, but also part out of jealousy. Two known dark saints are: Morone the False: Boutros Morone was the Mandrite of Yme in Aesanhirs, but declared himself Archmandrite after gaining a great following of north-eastern Aesanites, leading to the Shism of Aesanhirs. This of course was fueled by the wispers of Hedan, who was at that time helped by the demon lord Ardat, promising Morone the rule of whole Aesanityum. With the help of evil Fey, he protected his Mandrinate from the knights of the cloister orders, until a Cleric of Cristofus called Syarn called upon Aesan and Cristofus to part the woods. After a long battle the Fey retreated to the feywild, leaving the followers of Boutros Morone behind. Boutros was brought to Mastaba Aesan to live the rest of his live in exile, but escaped and in that act killed 50 knights of Cristofus. Syarn followed him and in the end killed him in a great battle of wills. Boutros now is a dark saint, worshiped by Hedanitti that want the subvert the church and blacken the name of the Saints. Alasad the Mare: Alasad was the Monarch of Aesanityum, and was deceived by Fraz-Urb'luu, who came to her in the guise of an angel. He told her that the practice of worshiping the saints was blasphemous, and that the pictures and statues of them were akin to idolatry. The Mandrite of Regynis, Inbiles, who came in to the throne-room at that moment, saw through the lies of Fraz-Urb'luu, and stripped him from his guise, revealing to all the Demon Lord in his awfulness. All but Alasad. She was blinded by arrogance, and kept to the idea that she was blessed by Aesan. She declared saint worship heresy and began the first Iconoclast, stripping the mosaics, frescoes and statues from the churches and destroying the Cathedral of Regynis altogether. While this happened Inbiles tried to stop her, proclaiming that through the saints, Aesan was worshiped more focused and pure. Alasad ordered her loyal knights to kill Inbiles for being a heretic. The prelate of the Cathedral of Regynis, Amdones, then prayed to Aesan directly, begging her to intervene. Aesan complied, and sent one of her angels, a Deva angel by the name of Illusel, that with the might of Aesan, but crying for having to do this deed, slew Alasad. Alasad is now a dark saint, worshiped by Hedanitti that through their arrogance want to be more important than others, and by them wanting unlimited power. Hedanitti: Human and demi-human followers of Hedan are called Hedanitti. They are not uniformly evil, but most are. Those that are not are misguided at the least. They form small sects across the land of Aesanityum, but in time that the church is very strick they sometimes retreat to places on the border. They tend to rise up, mostly in harsh times for the lands, and then decline again. Either by being put down by the Cloister knights and clerics, or because the popularity wanes. Each uprising however leaves homes broken, holy places befouled and many death and suffering. The symbol they use is a H connected to an N in demonic script.